"Speaking"
"Thoughts"
"Flashbacks"
"Attacks"
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Naruto or One Piece.
Writer Sage: Thank you for the advice, I have never been great with grammar. I hope I've used your advice correctly.
================Will of Fire=========================
The crew stood on the deck taking in the sight before them; they were a few yards away from a giant ship with a fish head on the front and a tail acting as a rudder. Between them was a large green building that looked to be around three levels, with two giant mast's on both sides of it and Baratie restaurant painted across the top.
"Hmm a traveling restaurant, interesting idea. Always new locations but you would have to change your menu around a lot because of foods available. Still if it's successful they must have some really good chefs here" everyone stared at Choji while he critiqued the ship.
"I don't know about you guys but I could eat. Lee pull us in."
"NO PROBLEM NARUTO-KUN" the man turned the wheel and headed towards the colossal ship and lines of boats along its side. Choji and Naruto jumped to the boat as Sakura tossed them a tie off line, after securing it the crew disembarked and made their way to the entrance.
The restaurant was quite elegant, a large open area with circular tables staggered around it. A few customers were scattered around the restaurant, some were very well dressed while others seemed to be dressed casually like them. Soon a waiter in a long sleeve white button up approached them. He had short black hair and small round glasses that he wore just on the tip of his nose.
"Good afternoon, are you all together?" Naruto nodded and saw the man move his lips as he scanned them.
"Alright table for eight lets see" he turned and looked around the room for a moment.
"We don't have a large enough table for all of you, would two tables next to each other be fine?"
Naruto looked at everyone, not reciving a complaint he agreed and they were lead to two tables along the far wall of the restaurant. The girls and Shikamaru sat at one and Naruto, Choji, Lee and Sai sat at the other. The menus were quite extensive and most of the food they had never even heard of, Choji grilled the man about almost every item on the menu before he finally made a decision.
It took less time than they had expected to get their meals and they were not disappointed at all with the meals. After two bites of his meal Naruto decided to put a Hiraishin seal on the place so he could visit more often. Choji was in paradise, he savored each bite trying to taste the different ingredients in his meal. As they were finishing up Choji flagged down the waiter.
"Excuse me but I was wondering if I could speak with the chef who made these meals."
"Is there a problem sir?" Choji shook his head and chuckled.
"No, no I happen to own a few restaurants and was wondering if the chef would be willing to share the recipes." The waiter paused and scratched his chin in thought.
"I will ask but I wouldn't count on it." He left and disappeared behind some swinging doors as Naruto looked up from his meal at Choji.
"Always trying to improve the family business huh?" Choji smiled big and chuckled.
"It's my duty and be honest if this was ramen you would chop off and your arm for the recipe."
'Touché sir."
Suddenly the swinging doors behind them were kicked open and Naruto turned around to see a tall man with a large chef hat coming towards them. He had short dirty blonde hair with a braided mustache sticking out past each cheek; he wore a white jacket chef's jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows over a blue and orange striped shirt. Naruto's watched as he cleaned his hands on the apron around his waist and Naruto noticed he had cut his brown pants to reveal his right leg was a peg leg. The man stopped at their table and looked at Choji
"You the man asking about my recipes?"
"Yes sir I am" hearing the seriousness in the chefs voice Choji sat up straight in his seat.
"What do you want them for?" he looked him over carefully than took in Lee, Sai and Naruto. He saw how they were dressed and knew they were not simple business men.
"Back home I happen to own several restaurants; I was hoping to purchase some of your recipes."
"You don't look like much of a business man to me."
"Not everything is what it appears to be" Choji grinned at the man.
"Too true but I don't give away my recipes, sorry" he started to walk back towards the door when another figure emerged.
"Hey old man, hurry the hell up we've got orders" out walked a tall lanky man in a black suit atop a sky blue collared shirt and white tie, his blonde hair fell down in front of his face and parted to reveal his right eye and curled eyebrows forming a spiral. He had a cigarette in his mouth and took a long drag while staring at the man.
"Who the hell you calling old man you little punk" he walked forward and stared the man in the eyes, for a few seconds they starred at each other until the blondes flicked over to the tables. His eyes widened and suddenly he was standing at the girls table.
"Good evening ladies, I hope everything has been to your liking. My I offer you a dessert? On the house of course." He bowed his torso to the girls, who all looked at each other confused.
"Ummm what do you have?" Temari may have been confused but she wasn't passing up a free dessert.
Before he could answer the old chef was behind him and spun on his peg leg while extending his normal foot, catching the blonde behind his knees making him fall flat on his back.
"Sanji, what did I tell you about giving away free food?" the chef asked as he watched Sanji inhale on his cigarette before bringing his legs up and flipping to his feet. As he exhaled he kicked out with his left leg to knock the man away but he landed on his feet.
"Shut up old man and go back to the kitchen." He said in a calm manner before turning back to the girls.
"Troublesome" Shikamaru leaned his chair back as he watched the sight in front of him.
Naruto was highly amused by the entire event; it reminded him of how he and Tsunade acted towards each other. Each one acted like they didn't care about the other but he could tell there was something between these two.
"Hey chef guy, who's the dude in the suit?" Naruto pointed towards Sanji as he walked over to the table and began talking to Sakura.
"Just some punk kid who acts more like a ladies man than a real chef, of course I doubt he's even been with a woman" he said it loud enough so Sanji would hear him. He got the reaction when he wanted; Sanji flew at him with a kick aimed at his head. The chef brought up his good leg and twisted his body, catching Sanji's leg in the move and pushing it down and to the side. Once their feet were on the ground the chef kept his momentum going and brought his peg leg towards Sanji's back but the blonde bent forward and the attack went over him.
"You're getting slow old man" said Sanji as he hopped back a bit to put some room between them. As he took another drag of his cigarette a green blur appeared before him
"What a most youthful display of skills my friend I would be honored to have a spar with you!" Lee stood in front of him with sparkles in his eyes from the display of skill. Sanji leaned back from the sudden closeness of the man.
"What?" Lee was about to talk when Naruto popped up, grabbed him and set him down in his seat.
"Lee, calm down buddy, you don't need to fight everybody you meet. I'm sure there will be plenty of people to test your skills against on the Grand Line." He patted Lee on the shoulder and moved to his seat.
"You're going to the Grand Line?" Naruto turned and looked at the chef, who had crossed his arms and gave Naruto a serious look.
"Yes we are".
"Kid I'm going to give you some advice, stay off the Grand Line" he turned and started towards the kitchen.
"Why?" Naruto started walking after the man only to stop a few feet from him.
"The Grand Line is dangerous place, a bunch of kids don't need to be fooling around out there" he started to turn back but stopped when Naruto began to laugh "Something funny".
"I'm sorry it's just been a long time since someone's called me kid and trust me we are more than capable to handle the Grand Line".
"Being cocky is only going to get you killed out there; take it from someone who knows".
"Look here old man I may be cocky but I'm damn sure me and my friends can handle anything that happens out there." he turned back to look at all his friends reciving smirks from all of them.
The chef looked over the two tables; each of them all seemed to hold an air of confidence in their eyes. He had seen that look before in the eyes of many different men. He started to rub his chin before turning to Lee.
"You said you wanted a fight with Sanji here right?" Lee looked surprised at the question but nodded his head vigorously. The chef nodded and turned to Naruto.
"I'm not your dad kid so I can't tell you not to go to the Grand Line but I'll make you a little wager. If your friend can impress me in a fight against Sanji than I'll let you know everything I can about the Grand Line". Naruto eyed the man.
"You've been to the Grand Line".
"Believe it or don't, no skin of my back." He shrugged his shoulders at Naruto. "Now how about that deal?"
Naruto turned and looked at Sanji, his movements were skilled and even though there wasn't much strength in the attacks he guessed that was because he knew the old man. He then turned to Lee and sighed when he saw the pleading look in his eyes.
"What happens if Lee loses?" he watched as the man started to rub his chin again and the grinned as he pointed towards Choji.
"How about your friend there gives me a couple of his restaurant's recipes?" Naruto turned to Choji and watched as he thought it over. After a minute he gave a quick nod and Naruto held his hand out to the old man.
"You got a deal old man".
"Name's Zeff not old man, kids these days have no respect" he shook Naruto's hand and went to the swinging doors, pushing one open he popped his head in.
"Someone go get ready to pull up the front porch" he turned from the door, not bothering to answer the questions coming from there and looked around the restaurant.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we of the Baratie are providing you with a little show while you dine. Would those of you that are docked in the front of the restaurant please go move your ships so we can set our stage." Many people whispered but got up and started heading to the exit. Naruto gave Zeff a curious look but turned to Choji.
"Can you and Sai go move the boat?" he watched Choji nod and the two stood up and followed the crowd out the door. The rest of the tem got up and started to follow Zeff and Sanji outside. Guest and kitchen staff were all moving to the windows and railings outside to get a view of the action. Naruto took this time to walk up next to Sanji.
"You don't seem to bothered by the fact the old man volunteered you for this" he watched Sanji finish his cigarette and flick it out into the ocean.
"I never pass up a chance to impress the ladies" he grinned as turned to a group of ladies and gave them a wink. Naruto shook his head and walked over to Lee.
"You ready for this?"
"Of course Naruto-kun, I will show all of these people my wonderful flames of youth" he struck his nice guy pose as he finished and Naruto chuckled.
"Alright, just make sure to win, if that old man has really been to the Grand Line he can give us a lot of useful information" reciving a nod from Lee he made his way to his friends, who were standing next to Zeff.
Zeff watched as people untied their boats and once everyone was a decent distance away he turned and looked up towards the top level of the restaurant.
"Alright bring her up". Soon after he said it the crowd heard the sounds of gears turning and watched as a large deck emerged from under the water. It was a curved shape that seemed to be at least thirty feet at its peak and then arced in to the restaurant.
"Impressive, what's this for usually?" Naruto turned to Zeff with a curious look.
"Sometimes if were crowded enough we setup tables on it but mostly it in case pirates get the idea to attack us. Can't have them inside ruining my restaurant now can I?" the two shared a laugh as the deck locked into place.
Lee and Sanji both walked out onto the deck and stood across from each other. Zeff cleared his throat to call attention to him and stared at the two.
"Alright the rules are simple no killing and no crippling blows. You lose if you fall in the ocean, get knocked unconscious or admit defeat. Sound good?" he looked to Sanji first and after receiving a nod turned to Lee. When he received one from him he held up his arm.
"Ready! Fight!" he brought his arm down and Lee burst into action.
Lee dashed forward and went to strike Sanji's chin with a straight right, Sanji's countered before Lee got close enough by turning and kicking Lee's arm with his right leg. He leapt slightly into the air as he turned and brought his left heel around to strike Lee's head but was hit by an upward palm strike from the man. With both legs in the air he started to fall to the ground head first
"Cotelette" quickly he through an arm down and caught himself before he hit the deck than kicked out at Lee with his right leg. Lee quickly flipped into the air to avoid the attack and as he descended stuck out one of his legs.
"Konoha Tree Splitter" Sanji pushed off with his arms to avoid the attack, Lee's heel hit and broke apart the boards under his heel.
Zeff watched intrigued by the short display of skill before him, while he would never admit it Sanji was very skilled, to see someone able to keep up with him was interesting. He looked out the corner of his eye and noticed none of the boys friends seemed the least bit worried about him. He grinned mental to himself and wondered how strong this boy was compared to the others.
"Epaule" Sanji appeared behind Lee with his left leg already in the air and brought it down towards his right shoulder. Trying to stand he brought his forearm up to block the strike and was pushed down into a squat from the strength of the kick. Lee pushed off backwards with his foot to get away from Sanji but the blonde flew after him trying to keep him from gaining his footing. Sanji kicked out with his right leg and was surprised when Lee grabbed it with both hands and twisted his body throwing Sanji to the side.
While slightly surprised by Lee's strength Sanji spun himself in mid-air and landed on his feet facing Lee.
"You are a most youthful opponent Sanji-san but I must win" Lee twisted his neck to crack it than disappeared in a blur of speed at Sanji, throwing a combination of punches at him. Sanji barley avoids the blows and tried to retreat but Lee kept up his pursuit and finally hit him with a straight shot to the stomach. Sanji doubled over from the strike and Lee quickly brought his elbow down towards his back
"Collier" Sanji dipped his head downward and flipped his leg around to hit Lee in the side of the neck, slamming him into the ground with enough force that he bounced off the deck.
"Selle" when Lee bounced Sanji spun on his hands and delivered powerful kick to Lee's lower back, flinging him towards the water. He smirked as he watched Lee try to correct himself in midair and land but Sanji knew he had won. He turned and pulled a cigarette out for a victory smoke but stopped when he heard the audience gasp; he looked up and saw they were all widened in shock. Confused he turned around and the cigarette fell from his mouth, there standing on the water was Lee.
"Troublesome" Shikamaru grabbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
"In Lee's defense he it was probably done on instinct" Tenten tried her best to defend her teammate but her voice wasn't very sure.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders, he had told Lee to win and honestly sooner or later they were going to have to show off some of their shinobi skills. He turned to look at Zeff, the man narrowing his eyes at Lee, and wondered what was going through the old man's head.
Lee noticed the shock in his opponent and rushed forward to hit him before he came to his senses. Using all his strength he ran at him and slammed his right fist into Sanji's stomach, he than reached up and grabbed his collar. Spinning on his heels he tossed Sanji over his shoulder into the air towards the water. Sanji realized there was nothing he could do and chuckled lightly as he fell into the water.
"YOSH SANJI-SAN THAT WAS A MOST YOUTHFUL BATTLE" Lee struck his posse and Sanji wondered how his teeth shined like that.
Naruto chuckled at Lee's antics and turned to Zeff.
"Looks like you'll be telling us about the Grand Line old man." He smiled big at the old man.
"How do you figure that? I believe your friend hit the water first"
"Actually you said who falls into the water first not who touches it. Lee never broke the water's surface so by your rules the fight was still going on" while it was a technicality Shikamaru wanted any information they could get on the Grand Line.
Zeff narrowed his eyes at Shikamaru and let out an annoyed groan, the boy was right and he knew that but he was hoping they wouldn't have remembered his wording of the rules. Letting out a sigh he headed back towards the restaurant.
"Come on up to my office and I'll answer any questions I can But I don't want all of you up there asking me a million questions so pick one of you as a spokesman." He smirked mentally, that would keep them from thinking of everything they would want to know plus they would probably spend forever deciding who should go.
"Shikamaru" the entire group said at once and Temari pushed the Nara after the man. Zeff sweat dropped at the scene of his failed plot.
"Troublesome friends" he let out a sigh and followed after Zeff. The two made their way through the small crowd and into the restaurant, they went through the swinging doors and Shikamaru looked over the kitchen as the past. I was two aisles separated by tubs of different ingredients; against each wall were multiple cooking stations under large vents. They moved past the area and up a flight of stairs behind a door and walked up two flights, exiting onto the top level of the boat.
Shikamaru realized the top part of the boat was actually an apartment and Zeff opened up one of the doors on it, gesturing Shikamaru in. The room was simple in its furnishing a single size bed was pushed against a large window in the right corner; just past the doorway was a desk with papers on them. Along the left wall was a dresser and bookcase, a single chair sat next to it with a small window behind it supplying more light. Zeff moved in past Shikamaru and hopped onto the bed and leaned against the headboard.
"Take a seat" he motioned to the chair and Shikamaru nodded before moving to it and relaxing into it.
"So what do you want to know?" Shikamaru sighed and leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees and brought his hands together, forming a circle by touching his fingertips together. Zeff watched curiously as Shikamaru sat there and he wondered what the boy was doing.
"You alright?" Shikamaru merely nodded still not saying anything. The two sat in the room for nearly ten minutes before Shikamaru opened his eyes.
"Sorry about that, it's an old habit I do when I think things out and collect my thoughts" he received a nodded from Zeff and then cleared his throat.
"First what is the best way to enter the Grans Line?"
"There are two ways, one of which you should never attempt. He first is going to Reverse Mountain and the other is passing through the Calm Belt."
"I've heard of the Calm Belt so I assume Reverse Mountain is the better way?" he waited to receive a confirming nod "Why is it called Reverse Mountain?"
"Because there is a river that flows upwards to the peak and then downwards into the Grand Line."
"Any idea how that happens".
"Psh what do I look like a scientist?" Zeff chuckled at his own joke but Shikamaru ignored him.
"What can you tell me about the islands on the Grand Line?" Zeff stopped his laughing with a long sigh.
"It's been a long time since I've been there so I could tell you about all of the different ones I went to but how accurate that information is I couldn't say."
"Troublesome, I don't need to hear about all of them but could you give us a map and basic information on them?" Zeff shook his head
"Information I could do but not a map, the reason the Grand Line is so dangerous is because no one can properly navigate it. Each island has its own magnetic field which causes the weather to shift dramatically at all times. One minute you're working on your tan the next you could be in a blizzard" that information really surprised Shikamaru and it took him a moment to take it all in.
"So how do you travel around? Just randomly go from one place to the other?"
"There are things called log poses their wrist watches with a glass orb sitting on top, and a needle floating inside the middle of that orb suspended from the top by a thin piece of wire. Once they catch a magnetic field they will guide you to an Island however a log pose takes time to record that field. The time it takes to record will vary per island and it won't be usable until it's recorded that island"
"Where can we find a pose?"
"I got mine from a store in Lougetown; it's the last island when traveling to Reverse Mountain." Zeff started to stroke his chin in thought while looking at Shikamaru "Are you guy's pirates?"
"No why?" he looked at Zeff suspiciously, wondering where the question came from.
"Lougetown has a Marine base on it; I've been hearing rumors that the Captain there is well known for stopping pirates from leaving." Shikamaru nodded, logging that information away for later.
"Earlier you mentioned not using the Calm Belt; I have heard the Marines use it to get to and from the different Blues faster. Any idea how?"
"Not a clue, back in my day everyone stayed clear of the Calm Belt but seems they figured out something"
"How well established are the Marines in the Grand Line?"
"Most islands have their own police force of some kind; this lets the Marines patrol the sea constantly. You may find a base stationed on one every now and then or a ship in a port but with the amount of islands it's not guaranteed."
"What can you tell me about devil fruits? I know theirs three types and what they are but not much else"
"Not much else, only that they can no longer swim and logia users can only be hurt by elements that oppose theirs. Like water could hurt fire but not wind." Shikamaru nodded and scratched his head
"That's all I can think of, anything you would like to pass on out of the goodness of your heart?" he smirked at the end to Zeff
"Never be too trusting, the Grand Line is filled with all kinds of people. One minute you're getting a warm welcome the next you wake up with a pistol in your face." Shikamaru nodded and got up to leave.
"Since I've been kind enough to answer all of yours would you mind answering one of mine?" Zeff watched Shikamaru stop before the exiting the door and sigh.
"You want to know how Lee stood on the water" he knew this was going to happen the question was should he answer.
"I would lie if I didn't say I was curious. In all my years of sailing I've never heard or seen anything like that. Even among fruit users" Zeff had tried to figure out if it was a fruit power but as far as he knew no power dealt with water, as it was their weakness.
"Troublesome, I can't tell you much but it's a technique people from our village learn." He walked out the door quickly and closed it behind him, he had already dealt with one question he didn't want to give away more.
He made his way down the stairs and through the kitchen, which was alive with people cooking and taking out food now, and out into the main area. Everyone was sitting in the same spots as before except his seat was being occupied by a blonde woman. She was wearing a tight black tank top and had golden blonde hair falling all the way to her rather large breasts, after examining her closely Shikamaru was hit with a realization.
"Naruto, what the hell are you doing" he closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose to fight of the coming headache.
"I'm having dessert Shika-kun" the blonde giggled sweetly.
"Okay it's just creepy when you talk like that" Shikamaru felt a shiver go up his spine. "Now again, what are you doing?"
"Well I saw all the girls' desserts and I wanted one but we don't have enough to pay for one and our meals so I went outside and changed into a more persuasive form." He took a bit of his red colored cake after he spoke and let out a hum in satisfaction.
"This whole day has been one troublesome event after the next can we just leave now?" he turned to the doors and started to leave not really caring if anyone followed. The girls and Naruto quickly eat the rest of their meals while the others started after Shikamaru, agreeing that leaving before Naruto tried to con more food from Sanji was for the best.
Hey everybody hope you enjoyed the chapter. I would like to apologize to those of you that hoped it was Whitebeard, when I read those reviews I was half tempted to change the chapter but decided against it.
Also some of you might wonder why I didn't have Zeff mention Haki, my thought is that Zeff never traveled far enough into the Grand Line where the people who use it were. While that could be debatable I feel it adds an extra factor they won't be ready for once on the Grand Line.
Also with them getting closer to the Grand Line I'm trying to think of Epithet's for everyone. If you have any I'd be more than happy to look them over and see if I can figure a way to make them work. Just pm them to me if you have any.